Premier League Review – Matchday 28
Saturday 5th March, 2022
Leicester City 1 Leeds United 0
Leeds new manager Jesse Marsch was proud of his team who dominated the home side in terms of shots on goal, but still suffered defeat which leaves them at risk of relegation. Marsch did switch to a 4-2-3-1 formation with Koch and Klich his defensive midfielders. The new manager was also able to call upon Patrick Bamford who was on the bench.
Jamie Vardy, who scored in midweek when coming off the bench against Burnley, started a game for the first time this year. Vardy has since suffered a knee in jury and will be out till April.
Daniel James had a shot go narrowly wide of Schmeichel’s right post after only two minutes. James had Rodrigo and Harrison run ahead of him right and left six minutes later. James chose to pass to Harrison whose shot was saved by Schmeichel’s foot. Firpo had a shot blocked in front of the Leicester keeper four minutes from half-time. Meslier saved an Ndidi header from a Leicester corner at the other end.
Schmeichel patted a Rodrigo header away after a second half Leeds corner and was the busier of the two keepers. Schmeichel was being watched by his father as he (Kasper) made his 461st club appearance to become Leicester’s third highest appearance record-holder. He had to save again, this time at point-blank range from Raphinha after low cross by Firpo.
Vardy was replaced by Iheanacho, and he gave one-to pass to Harvey Barnes who took the points with a 67th minute left foot shot from inside the Leeds area. Tielemans had sent Barnes forward with a short crossfield pass.
Aston Villa 4 Southampton 0
Villa had four different scorers (including former "Saint" Danny Ings) and Steve Gerrard deployed a diamond midfield with Douglas Luiz at the back and Philippe Coutinho at the head against a Southampton side that lost their recent form.
Goal number one was scored in the eighth minute and followed passes through the middle first by Coutinho then Danny Ings, to Watkins who turned and scored with a lifted shot from just inside the area across Forster’s left hand. Stuart Armstrong went close at the Holte End before Watkins had a shot saved by Forster’s legs after another set-up from Coutinho. Coutinho drove a shot just over the corner of goal three minutes before the break following good work by Matty Cash. Forster saved again, this time from Coutinho who and received from Watkins to his left.
Calum Chambers was in Villa’s back line and following a Villa corner, he lifted the ball over the defence where Coutinho passed inside to tee up Douglas Luiz for a 44th minute goal. There was still time for another Coutinho shot, which he pushed wide, after a flicked pass by Watkins.
Coutinho did have a goal in the 52nd minute. It followed a free kick on the right and more good play by Villa in and around the Southampton box. McGinn went down but was denied a penalty. The ball ran anyway to Coutinho who scored with a low deflected shot from an angle on the right. Ings was denied a goal a minute later by Forster, after more direct attacking play through the middle by an impressive Villa side with Coutinho to the fore. Ings did score in the 54th minute, taking a Cash cross in his stride and beating Forster with his right foot shot.
Martinez saved well from Adams, but there was no way back for Southampton. Steve Gerrard wore a well-satisfied look on his face.
Burnley 0 Chelsea 4
Chelsea fans disgraced themselves (not for the first, or last time) chanting Roman Abramovich’s name during the formal showing of unity with Ukraine. Manager Thomas Tuchel criticised those fans. Abramovich had initially handed over stewardship of the club to a Chelsea Trust, but subsequently announced his intended sale, following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
The Chelsea team did not disgrace their club and beat a Burnley side missing skipper Ben Mee with four second half goals. Reece James, making his first start since December, was very influential, opening the scoring in the 47th minute, before having an involvement in two subsequent goals.
James had a first half shot from inside the area blocked, before Weghorst also had a shot cleared off the line by Thiago Silva. This shot followed a Lennon cut-back from the right of the Chelsea box. Dwight McNeil had an excellent chance after Mendy failed to clear a high ball into the box, but the Burnley midfielder skied his attempt. McNeil also failed to take advantage of a poor piece of defence by Chalobah, hitting his pass straight to the feet of another defender. Burnley had their chances.
James’ early second-half goal followed a move from left to right before Chalobah’s final pass to the right wing-back, who teased the hapless McNeil inside the box before planting a right foot shot across Pope’s right hand into the net. James was involved in the second goal five minutes later, feeding the ball to Pulisic who crossed from the right side of the box before Havertz rose unchallenged and headed home. Havertz also scored goal number three in the 55th minute. Pulisic had started this move on the left before Kante passed to James, stationed again inside the area on the right. His cross was poked in at close range.
The "Oles" were ringing out as Chelsea passed the ball around with ease before Pulisic scored the fourth goal after being gifted the ball by Tarkowski. It was a shocking back-pass. (69 mins)
Perhaps Burnley play better on cold, wet and windy nights at Turf Moor. This was a sunny and dry day in the North-West.
Newcastle United 2 Brighton & Hove Albion 1
The best team lost, so they say, but Graham Potter’s Brighton have now lost four consecutive games and slipped into the bottom half of the table, just one place above Newcastle, who are unbeaten in seven and have won five of those games. Newcastle had Saint-Maximin back on the bench. Brighton wore a third strip which matched the colours off the flag of Ukraine.
Fraser had an early shot held by Sanchez after a good cross from the right by Murphy. Fraser did score the opening goal in the 12th minute at the end of good break-out by Newcastle started by Willock’s pass before Chris Wood sent Murphy away. Murphy’s shot beat the Brighton keeper but rebounded off the post to the feet of Ryan Fraser, formerly an Eddie Howe player at Bournemouth. Another of Howe’s former players – Callum Wilson – is still on Newcastle’s injured list. Two minutes later, Fraser took a free kick from the right, and this was headed into the net by Emil Krafth, playing because Kieran Trippier is still injured.
Dubravka saved from Welbeck in front of the Gallowgate Stand. In the second half, Lewis Dunk put his team back in the game with a header from Pascal gross’s corner taken from the left. Dunk rose and powered in a short range header. (55 mins) Dubravka saved low to his left from Trossard’s shot ten minutes from the end, and Newcastle held onto another precious win.
Norwich City 1 Brentford 3
Christian Eriksen made his first start in a game refereed by Anthony Taylor, who had been the man in the middle when Eriksen suffered his heart attack last summer. Norwich’s Teemu Pukki was in the Finland side playing Denmark on that fateful day. Ivan Toney scored a hat-trick and Brentford had a first league win in 9 games giving them a six-point gap above the bottom three. There was an emotional moment when Brandon Williams fouled Eriksen, then hugged the Dane when he realised who his victim had been. Williams was booked for the challenge.
Norwich had a chance after only two minutes when Brentford made a hash of playing out from the back. Gilmour put in Rashica, but his shot was saved. Norwich also had a corner after a Pukki shot was saved. Canos went close with a shot after a long throw by Pinnock after half an hour, but Krul (back in goal for the first time in the league since January) saved with a dive to his right. Eriksen took the corner which was headed across the box by Ajer and converted by the boot of Toney. (32 mins)
Toney’s second goal came from the penalty spot in the 52nd minute after another Eriksen corner. VAR called Mr. Taylor to the monitor to view a high boot by Gibson, thus awarding the spot kick. Krul went to his left. Toney fired home to his right. Toney was awarded another penalty when fouled by Gibson and scored, despite Krul going to his right this time. (58 mins)
Rashica had a "goal" disallowed for an offside against Pukki, and Mbeumo also had a "goal" disallowed for the same reason. By the time Pukki scored a consolation goal in added time, plenty of the home fans had left the stadium.
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 Crystal Palace 2
Wolves manager Bruno Lage was angry with his team who lost a third consecutive game and slipped away from the European places. Palace had already threatened when Schlupp stole the ball off the unaware Podence, before firing wide at the end of is run, but their first goal came in the 19th minute. Gallagher had sent Zaha forward and he got to the bye-line crossing to the near post where Mateta won a battle for the ball with Sa and a defender before slotting into the net.
Schlupp went to the ground in the box after a Kilman challenge and Zaha scored powerfully from the spot in the 34th minute. Sa was subsequently out of his ground but recovered to dive to his left and save a 25-yard shot by Conor Gallagher. Sa had to save again before the half was out, this time from a left foot shot by Olise.
There was no second half addition to the score.
Liverpool 1 West Ham United 0
Liverpool won a crucial three points with this narrow win, enabled by a solitary goal, just allowed by VAR. West Ham were missing Declan Rice due to injury and also lost Jarrod Bowen through injury during the game. Liverpool remain unbeaten in any game this year. West Ham are one of only two teams to have beaten them this season in any competition.
Fabianski made a good close-range save from Mo Salah after Liverpool took a quick free kick after a West Ham offside after only one minute. Alisson pushed an Antonio shot over his bar after 14 minutes. The Liverpool keeper dived low to save another shot from Antonio. Mane scored the only goal of the game in the 27th minute. It was a close-range shot from an Alexander-Arnold pass but took a marginal and favourable VAR review to authorise.
Between them Cresswell and Fabianski managed to keep out a shot by Luis Diaz after another Alexander-Arnold pass. Alexander-Arnold had to make a goal-line clearance at the other end after Lanzini beat the offside flag and lifted a shot over Alisson. The Liverpool right-back then cleared a deflected shot by Vlasic.
Luis Diaz pushed a shot just wide in front of The Kop in the second half, and Lanzini missed an excellent opportunity at the other end, to the consternation of the travelling fans. Keita’s excellent defending prevented Antonio from scoring ten minutes from the end of the game. Antonio had been sent clear by substitute Mark Noble.
Sunday 6th March, 2022
Watford 2 Arsenal 3
Watford scored two goals in game for the first time since November, and Moussa Sissoko scored for the second time in three games (that hasn’t happened for three years), but it wasn’t enough to stop Arsenal winning a fourth consecutive game climbing into the top four. Arsenal still have to play Chelsea and Spurs away and Liverpool at home. There is plenty of mileage in the race for a Champions League place yet.
Watford had a couple of enforced changes up front with Josh King and Sarr missing. Dennis played in the middle of a front three with Hernandez and Joao Pedro either side. Arsenal were unchanged.
Watford had the ball in the net almost immediately following the start when Dennis scored from Pedro’s pass, but he had been offside. On the other hand, Arsenal did have a legitimate goal in the fifth minute when Saka passed inside to Odegaard, who scored with a well-placed left foot shot. Odegaard had fed the ball to Saka with a clever back-heel before racing into the area for the return pass. Watford equalised 6 minutes later. Sissoko had shown strength towards the right of the area before Femenia’s cross was met by Hernandez who scored with a right foot scissor kick.
Partey hit a left foot shot wide with Foster stranded towards the other side of his goal. Ramsdale saved a low shot by Dennis who had cut in from the right after Sissoko powered forward. Arsenal went 2-1 up after Saka stole the ball off Cleverley before scoring after a one-two with Lacazette. Cleverley had been particularly lackadaisical in a central position just yards away from his own area.
Martinelli scored a third goal for the visitors inside the 52nd minute. He scored with a right foot shot at the end of good move involving Cedric, Odegaard and finally Lacazette. Arteta even had a role in the goal, having enabled a quick throw-in after leaving his technical area.
Joao Pedro was denied a penalty or even a free kick when he went down inside the left of the Arsenal area after Odegaard’s challenge. Ramsdale made a sharp save from Cleverley after a poor clearance and attempt to play out. Substitute Nketiah hit the foot of the post with a right foot shot inside the right of the box.
Sissoko’s goal came three minutes from time. He was the furthest forward for “The Hornets” and hit the net with a shot beneath Ramsdale after getting the better of Ben White. Hernandez had lifted the pass from the right channel. Watford had given a good account of themselves in a difficult game.
Manchester City 4 Manchester United 1
United were fighting to win back fourth place after Arsenal’s narrow win at Watford. The odds were not in their favour. Ruben Dias is injured so John Stones took his place with Kyle Walker at right back. Jack Grealish returned, and Mahrez was also in an attack where Sterling started on the bench.
United were missing Varane who has Covid and Ronaldo, who has a hip injury. United played a 4-3-3 with Sancho, Elanga and Fernandes up front, supported nominally by Fred, McTominay and Pogba, although, like City, the formation was fluid. With Zinchenko once again on the bench, City and United players stood together (in alternate positions) as the stadium offered its support to war-stricken Ukraine.
City opened their account in the fifth minute when Grealish and Bernardo Silva advanced in tandem down the left wing. It was Bernardo Silva whose cross was met and turned in by De Bruyne’s left foot. United nearly bounced back when Fernandes' shot was blocked by Ederson. The ball fell to Fred, but his shot was also blocked and cleared.
De Bruyne had a shot saved and Foden was being held back, but referee Michael Oliver awarded a free kick to United. United had several attacks and equalised after 22 minutes when Pogba passed to Sancho who was in space on the left. Sancho came inside and curled a shot inside Ederson's left post.
Grealish passed inside and an improvised looping header by Foden landed on top of De Gea's goal. City regained the lead in the 28th minute. Grealish headed inside and Foden, with great skill got past a defender and hit a shot which De Gea saved. Bernardo Silva's follow-up was also blocked, but the ball fell to De Bruyne, who made no mistake. De Bruyne had now scored his 50th and 51st Premier League goals.
The players had a "time-out" as there was a brief delay following a medical situation in the crowd. After play resumed there was a breakdown in the United midfield after which De Bruyne and Foden advanced with Foden's shot passing wide of De Gea's left post. Sancho had another chance following a Fernandes pass but skied his effort.
De Gea made a good right-hand save from a low shot by Mahrez, just before three minutes of added time was announced.
Maguire was booked for cynically halting De Bruyne's advance after 63 minutes. Lingard and Rashford replaced Elanga and Pogba with less than half an hour remaining.
It was 3-1 to City after 69 minutes and it all looked so easy. De Bruyne hit a long corner from the left and Mahrez scored with his left foot shot from the back of the area. The shot did take a deflection off Maguire on its way to the net. Mahrez took a shorter pass from De Bruyne and had another shot (this was with his right foot) saved at his left post by De Gea. City had been dominating the second half in terms of possession and shots on goal.
City were almost showboating now and after a Walker cross from the bye-line on the right, Cancelo met the ball with a scissor kick which was saved by De Gea's dive to his left. It would have been a brilliant goal.
With added time looming Mahrez took a pass from substitute Gundogan and his powerfully driven shot hit the net despite De Gea getting his chest on the ball. Mahrez had looked offside, and the flag was raised. VAR took a considerable time but confirmed no offside with Telles' foot just playing Mahrez onside.
Question - If Spurs beat City 3-2 away and City beat United 4-1, by how many do we beat United this week?
Monday 7th March, 2022
Spurs 5 Everton 0
Harry Kane was your man of the match for the ninth time this season. With a final grading of 8.8 this was Harry’s sixth mark of 8 or more out of 10. Harry might have scored just 10 Premier League goals, but he did score his 20th club goal of the season for the eighth consecutive season.
Everton’s Michael Keane scored the eighth own goal in Spurs’ favour this season, four of which have been in the Premier League.
Matt Doherty had his best game of the season and has given two excellent performances in his last three games – against Leeds and Everton.
Thursday 10th March, 2022
Norwich City 1 Chelsea 3
Chelsea Football Club is still coming to terms with the full implications of the Government’s sanction of owner Roman Abramovich. Their fans again sang Abramovich’s name despite his association with Vladimir Putin. Their team had bottom club Norwich beaten inside 14 minutes.
Norwich were unable to field Chelsea loanee Billy Gilmour. Dean Smith went with a five-man midfield. Chelsea had Rudiger, Kante, Ziyech and Lukaku among their substitutes. Norwich had hardly touched the ball before falling behind to a third minute Chalobah glanced header from Mount’s corner. There was plenty of chanting banter between the fans, such as "Chelsea get sanctioned, everywhere they go".
Krul made a good save from Havertz, who hit a shot after a good turn, taking a pass from Mason Mount who had made a good run down the right channel. It wasn’t long before Chelsea had a second goal. Havertz became provider for Mount this time, passing inside the Norwich area before Mount hit a powerful right foot shot into the roof of the net.
Zimmerman was making his first league appearance of the season for Norwich and had a deflected shot well saved by Mendy. At half-time Zimmerman and Normann were replaced by Rupp and Rashica. Tuchel put on Loftus-Cheek to play at right wing-back in place of Azpilicueta. Norwich switched to four at the back and made a bright start to the second half.
Pukki had been denied a penalty after 57 minutes when he went down in the box, but Norwich were awarded a penalty for handball by Chalobah after VAR intervened and advised Martin Atkinson to check the monitor. Pukki sent Mendy the wrong way. (69 mins)
Norwich put up a good fight and the crowd were right behind them. Kante and Lukaku came on for Kovacic and Werner. Lukaku nearly scored with his first touch after Loftus-Cheek cut the ball back from the right, but his shot was deflected wide. Havertz secured the win in the last minute taking a short pass from Kante before beating Krul with a left foot shot from 15 yards.
Southampton 1 Newcastle United 2
With this sixth win in seven games, Newcastle are now a full 10 points clear of the bottom three. Even Chris Wood scored his first goal for the club who had fallen behind to a Stuart Armstrong goal after 25 minutes. Another recent Newcastle arrival Bruno Guimaraes also scored a goal on his first Premier League start.
Romeu hit a shot wide from the edge of the area after a corner, before a Broja shot from an angle on the right was touched by Dubravka, leading to a corner. Shelvey had lost out to Romeu in midfield and Che Adams had provided Broja with the opportunity. Southampton’s goal followed a lengthy build-up, ending in a deep cross from the left by Walker-Peters. This was headed back into the centre of goal where Armstrong scored with a close-range header which took a deflection off the unfortunate Dan Burn.
Newcastle soon equalised. Fraser passed to Shelvey who hit a powerful cross from the left, met by Wood’s powerful header. (32 mins) Southampton were looking more likely to score next, and after a short pass by Armstrong, Adams hit a powerful shot which rebounded clear off the underside of the bar. The scores remained level at the interval.
Newcastle took the lead in the 52nd minute. A Jacob Murphy shot was blocked by Elyounoussi, and the corner was taken from the right and headed back into the middle by Dan Burn. Guimaraes scored with an audacious flick of his right foot, almost with his back to goal. Guimaraes had a header blocked and Targett’s shot was well blocked and cleared in Newcastle’s next attack.
Elyounoussi and Armstrong had shots blocked at the other end. Former Newcastle man Adam Armstrong replaced Broja after 73 minutes. He soon had a shot on goal, hit with the left foot, but that passed a good yard wide of the far post. Fraser hit an easy shot at goal held at the other end and a Livramento cross was pushed over the bar by Dubravka. Salisu’s header from the resulting corner was saved. Dubravka was tested more by a later Salisu header across his goal following a Walker-Peters ball into the area.
Southampton pressed hard in six minutes of added time. Adams had a shot blocked by Willock and Stuart Armstrong had a left foot shot from 20 yards tipped over the bar by the Newcastle keeper. Newcastle held their lead. On 19th December, after a 4-0 home defeat to Manchester City, Newcastle were equal bottom of the table with 10 points. Now they are 14th and climbing with 31 points.
Wolverhampton Wanderers 4 Watford 0
Watford were destroyed by a Wolves side who had themselves been out of form recently. Wolves were three up inside 21 minutes. Watford were missing Sarr again but had Josh King back inn their attack.
Wolves took the lead in the 13th minute, and it was Raul Jimenez’s sixth league goal of the season. Hwang fed him the ball from the left side of the box and Jimenez beat Foster with a well-placed shot across Ben Foster. Wolves never looked back. Their second goal was an own goal five minutes later. Jonny crossed deep from the right and Ait-Nouri put the ball back into the goal area where the unfortunate Hernandez pushed the ball inside Foster’s right post. The game was over three minutes later when Foster hit an attempted clearance straight to the feet of Podence who took his opportunity to score with a left foot shot from 25 yards with the keeper out of his goal to the left. Roy Hodgson must have wished he was at home with his slippers and pipe.
Josh King had a good chance after Sissoko’s pass, but his shot was too high. King was replaced by Kalu at half-time. Wolves had to wait till five minutes from the end for their fourth goal. It was a delightful, chipped shot from just inside the area by Neves, who had taken a headed pass from substitute Chiquinho.
Wolves did not manage one shot on target.
Leeds United 0 Aston Villa 3
Both sides made one change with Forshaw replacing Klich in the Leeds side, whilst Digne returned for Villa, replacing Ashley Young. Patrick Bamford was on the Leeds bench. This was Jesse Marsch's first home game, and of course Leeds' first game at Elland Road since their 4-0 defeat to Spurs and the departure of Bielsa. Leeds were looking to end a run of five consecutive defeats.
Leeds players were cloaked in Ukrainian colours, and the two teams stood together holding a "Football Stands Together" banner, also in Ukrainian colours.
Leeds looked more solid in the early stages, and intimidated Tyrone Mings whenever Villa tried to play out from the back. Villa were capable of clever touches from the likes of Coutinho, Ramsey, Watkins and Ings. Villa took the lead in the 22nd minute. It looked as if Watkins might have been fouled as he went down in the box trying to reach Digne's cross. The ball ran across the area to Matty Cash, who pulled the ball back for Coutinho. His shot was deflected by Struijk's touch which out the ball over Meslier's dive.
Meslier got away with a mis-placed pass from outside his area, but then managed to clear from Watkins' first touch. Douglas Luiz took a free kick after 32 minutes from the left of the area, but Meslier managed to push the ball clear from his right post.
James had a shot from the left of the area after a good Leeds passing move from their own half, but Martinez was comfortable and held the ball. Meslier made an excellent left-handed save from McGinn's curling right-footer after 41 minutes. A move inspired by Coutinho a minute before the break ended with a 20-yard shot by Douglas Luiz which was held by Meslier.
At half-time Jesse Marsch replaced Rodrigo with 19-year-old Joe Gelhardt. In the first minute Raphinha put in a dangerous cross from the right, but Villa cleared, and a follow-up shot was well off target. Leeds were brighter in the early stages and at least got the ball into the box more. Patrick Bamford came on for Harrison after 58 minutes to great acclaim.
McGinn had Villa's first chance of the second half but hit his shot straight at Meslier. Villa scored a clinical goal in the 73rd minute. Matty Cash had acres of space in the Leeds area, receiving a good cross from the left by Danny Ings. Cash turned to his left and picked his spot inside Meslier's left post.
Villa were getting into their stride and Leeds were falling apart yet again. Calum Chambers, recently signed from Arsenal, scored a cracking first Villa goal (and a rare personal goal) after a cross from the left and a touch-back by Mings. (73 mins)
Leeds finished with 10 men as Junior Firpo was stretchered off in the closing stages, adding to their injury woes.
Fixtures and results - 05-10.03.22
Saturday 5th March, 2022
Leicester 1-0 Leeds
A. Villa 4-0 S'hampton
Burnley 0-4 Chelsea
Newcastle 2-1 Brighton
Norwich 1-3 Brentford
Wolves 0-2 C. Palace
Liverpool 1-0 West Ham
Sunday 6th March, 2022
Watford 2-3 Arsenal
Man City 4-1 Man Utd
Monday 7th March, 2022
Spurs 5-0 Everton
Thursday 10th March, 2022
Norwich 1-3 Chelsea
S'hampton 1-2 Newcastle
Wolves 4-0 Watford
Leeds 0-3 A. Villa
Premier League Table
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Man City 28 22 3 3 68-18 50 69
2. Liverpool 27 19 6 2 71-20 51 63
3. Chelsea 27 16 8 3 56-19 37 56
4. Arsenal 25 15 3 7 41-29 12 48
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5. Man Utd 28 13 8 7 45-38 7 47
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6. West Ham 28 13 6 9 46-35 11 45
7. Spurs 26 14 3 9 40-32 8 45
8. Wolves 28 13 4 11 28-23 5 43
9. A. Villa 27 11 3 13 40-37 3 36
10. S'hampton 28 8 11 9 35-43 -8 35
11. C. Palace 28 7 12 9 39-38 1 33
12. Leicester 25 9 6 10 40-43 -3 33
13. Brighton 27 7 12 8 26-32 -6 33
14. Newcastle 27 7 10 10 32-47 -15 31
15. Brentford 28 7 6 15 30-45 -15 27
16. Leeds 28 5 8 15 29-64 -35 23
17. Everton 25 6 4 15 28-46 -18 22
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18. Burnley 26 3 12 11 22-36 -14 21
19. Watford 28 5 4 19 27-54 -27 19
20. Norwich 28 4 5 19 17-61 -44 17
